layers
by danny mahealani
Summary: But we're not bad people. We're like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood. / There are so many layers to Slytherins, yet most people don't seem to look beyond the house emblem. -—The Slytherins, through good and bad, 50 drabbles. iv. sunshine v. daydream vi. astronomy tower
1. severus snape

for the 'your favourite hogwarts house boot camp challenge'. i chose slytherin, as that's my house. this first drabble is for the prompt _stars _and i'm using the character _severus snape_, as i wanted to write something about him, since i bought his wand when i went to the studio tour (be jealous, be very jealous)

i don't own harry potter - that's an honour for jkr alone.

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Stars are a reminder of every night that ever was, for Severus Snape. They remind him of the good, the bad. They remind him of the emptiness he's never truly been able to get rid of since Lily Evans was murdered.

_I killed Lily Evans, _he reminds himself. It might have been The Dark Lord who aimed that wand, but Snape tells himself over and over again that it was he who murdered Lily. If he hadn't overheard that prophecy… if he hadn't told The Dark Lord of what he heard…

Lily Evans might still be alive. She wouldn't be lying in the ground next to her husband. Severus could have stopped her death from happening.

He doesn't even begin to think about the fact that he killed James as well.

He used to love the stars, as a boy. However he could, he'd escape from the house, escape from the yelling, smashing, screaming. He'd run, go as far as he could. At night, he'd look at the stars.

They'd speak to him of a better life, of some kind of hope. They'd tell him of a chance that perhaps, maybe, he wouldn't be screamed at and scorned. And so he thanked the stars the day that he met Lily Evans.

Now they speak only of misery and misfortune. They remind him of the woman he killed, the woman that he _loved_. They remind him of the fact that everything is his fault.

The stars are a reminder of every night that ever was, and a forecast of everything that ever will be. Severus Snape does not look at the stars anymore. For him, they do not shine so bright.

{When he dies, he cannot see the stars. For the first time since Lily's death, he wishes that he could. Instead, he is bid farewell by her eyes.}

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	2. eileen prince

okay, so eileen prince isn't confirmed as a slytherin, but she is in my headcanon, so. also, these are probably all going to be character-centric instead of romance related, js. and this is un-beta'd and i wrote it in 5 minutes, so.

warning: themes of abuse

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It wasn't meant to turn out this way.

She had plans for her life. She had thought that things would go further; maybe her life could have a little meaning, a little love and wonder and hope.

Maybe she just wasn't living in the real world, maybe she was defying all the common sense Slytherin ever gave her. Eileen Prince wasn't supposed to find the man of her dreams, live in a huge house with wonderful views.

She feels so lost and she doesn't even know why she's with this horrible, horrible man, with his sallow face and his harsh words, and his blows that sting like fire and ice both together. She can't even remember what she saw in him, and she knows that he's worthless and that should make her feel better, but it doesn't, because she knows that she is worthless too.

Angry red marks are on her cheeks and he's shouting at her, yelling because according to him she's scum, she's nothing. And he's shouting _why did I ever marry you? _and _look at him, our child, he's nothing and you're nothing and it's nothing _and he's yelling and she's lost because why did this ever happen? She's lost because what happened to the Eileen who would slap him and stop him before anything went too far?

And maybe she was always meant to be with him because she was worthless, ugly, harsh and mean and cruel. Maybe it was a match made in heaven—or hell.

There is no way out for Eileen and she hates it all, she hates her son because he looks like his father, she hates her husband because he hits her and he yells and she wants to get out and run, far, far away and never return—

What happened to Eileen Prince, so tall, proud and regal? Who is this woman who stands in her place looking so alone, so _lost_?

Why did she lose faith in herself? She could have been something wonderful.

Instead, she fell apart.


	3. drastoria

dedicated to **maddie **(garfields) bc she loves drastoria and she asked for it. the prompt is _knight in shining armour. _and this is un-beta'd and i wrote it at 1am so...

warning: themes of self-harm and depression

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He looks at her like she hung the stars in the sky, long, long ago. He treasures her as though she is infinite, stretching on through the night until the pastel pinks, reds and oranges fill the sky as the sun begins to rise. He admires her as though she's a single star, outshining all the others who surround her, reaching out, onwards, always onwards.

In reality, she's just a broken woman ― no, not even that. A broken _girl_. Because she can't have hung the stars in the sky, and she definitely doesn't stretch on for infinity. She outshines none, she simply fades into the background, doomed to stand in the shadows of her sister and all the other Slytherins who are prouder, more ambitious, more outgoing. She is simply the tragic, overlooked Princess, waiting for a knight in shining armour, who, most likely, will never come.

Draco sees things that others don't. He notices her brown eyes that seem continuously on the brink of tears. The long sleeves she always wears are ignored by most, but he sees what they cover, even though the scars are never shown. He can tell ― with Astoria, he can always tell. He spies that look she seems to have, as though the world is far away and nothing ― least of all Astoria ― matters.

He sees Astoria and everything that she is and he knows that there is something better for her. Perhaps a different world for her, if he can open her eyes, if he can help her through.

He wishes to be her knight in shining armour. Maybe, if he tries, Astoria can be saved.

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please don't favourite/alert without reviewing. tedromeda coming up soon :)


	4. tedromeda

dedicated to **louise** (whimsody) because tedromeda is her otp and even though this is badly written, i hope she'll find this vaguely okay.

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Andromeda Black is dark. She shivers in the middle of the night, wondering why she is who she is and why it is that the man she loves is one her family will never approve of. She feels lost. Her family seem to be the opposite of her, sometimes. It is only Sirius that really, truly understands her, and he is but a child - how can she confide in him? Who can she tell that she doesn't believe in pure-blood ideals?

He is her sunshine, Ted. He lightens things up, makes everything seem okay. And the world is falling apart and the walls are crashing down, but he's there, and none of it seems to matter.

She leaves her family behind. They are the shadows, the dark side of the world. They are heavy tapestries, terrible responsibilities. They are dark curses, the plague.

When she escapes from her house, she doesn't look back once. She escapes from the darkness, and heads into the light, the sunshine.

Everything as is it is meant to be, Andromeda thinks. Things may continue to fall apart, dreams and visions of the Blacks may plague her, but she knows she'll be okay. Ted will be there to see her through.

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	5. lucissa

lucissa, because i've always shipped this but never written it. sorry i've taken so long to update! and this is un-beta'd and written in five minutes, so please point out any mistakes to me :)

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Sometimes she thinks that it's just a daydream. That she lies in between the sheets with _him. _That he's the one that kisses her goodnight and presses her up against the wall until she can hardly breathe because of the way he makes her feel—

Her sisters tease her, of course. Little Cissy, getting pulled in by none other than Lucius Malfoy. Everyone knows what he's like, picking up girls and putting them down, crushing them into shadows that flit the halls of Hogwarts with mascara stains and tangled hair.

But she believes that what she has with him is different. They're both pure blood and strong and he's been with her longer than anybody else—

It has to be real.

And, hey, if it is a daydream, it's the best she's ever had.


	6. draco-centric

draco-centric with the prompt _astronomy tower_. i'm aiming to update this every day in october because i'm planning on doing nanowrimo next month and so doing something regularly this month will help me. so, more updates for this :)

* * *

That night is permanently scored into the walls of your mind. Every time you close your eyes he's there.

And you're holding his wand that you took from him, so easily, and he's not even pleading and you want him to plead for you to save him—

Because then you wouldn't have to come up with an excuse for not killing him. Because you can't. You hate him so much but how can you kill someone? How can you point a wand at someone and mutter those two words that mean the life will be gone from them forever?

And it's just too easy, to kill him. Which is what makes it so hard to utter those two words that will do it. And so you can't.

Every time you close your eyes the Astronomy Tower springs back up in your mind, that night where it seemed as if the world stopped for everyone outside of the tower, until the madness begun.

And yet there's something like gratitude towards Snape.

You didn't have to kill Dumbledore.

You're not an evil man, yet. Perhaps you have a while longer before your innocence is completely gone.


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